Has anybody listened to this album?  I'm trying to determine if I should get this album or not.
http://vgmdb.net/album/9318

Is it more like VP Silmeria Arranged (less synth emphasis) or Star Ocean Arranged (more synth emphasis)?

It's definitely more prog rock focused, with a few non-prog rock arrangements on it.

Need a little more information on this, as he has done progressive rock with a lot of synth and not so much synth.

Always check RPG Fan.com's soundtrack section for soundtrack samples and reviews for RPG soundtracks; CD Japan sometimes posts samples for items, too; YouTube can also be a good source, as you can get the music backed with gameplay footage, or someone might put up the music with a still background.

Link for Tales Battle Arrange: http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/to-se … index.html

Thanks for the information, Bernhardt.

We recently covered Tales of Series Battle Arrange Tracks on our CocoeBiz Youtube channel.  Check it out if you're interested.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=5Onn-d8ivug

- Justin Pfeiffer

Nice video coverage there, Xanadujin.  I got the samples I needed from CDJapan, though.

Unfortunately, RPGFan uses Real Media, which I cannot play.

Real Networks is the devil, but Real Alternative is your friend.

Good to know, but I think that player is Windows only.  I am running a Mac.

It's not a player, it's a codec. I know nothing about using it with Mac software though.

I tend to immediately enjoy arranged albums by Motoi Sakuraba, but the Tales of Series Battle Arrange is different. I do not like it. It is difficult to enjoy. Maybe with more exposure I can find something of interest here.

I looked at the tracklist, and I haven't played half the games that got featured on it.

I suppose it's not too far from Sakuraba's fare. This is one of those arrangement albums one can't entirely enjoy without playing the game thereby knowing the musics. I couldn't pass much judgment beyond that though. The only track that stuck out with me was "Inferia Battle", a somewhat down-tempo, moody piece.

Personally, I think Sakuraba is best when he's playing with more of an orchestra (and my personal favorite: "Mission to the Deep Space" from Star Ocean Til The End of Time) rather than his eclectric solo keyboarding and organing.

I personally love the album, for me it works really well as a whole with the given track order, lengths and the style and instrumentation variety between them. To me it's the most fresh Sakuraba arrange album since Valkyrie Profile Voice Mix.

Only issue I can see for people usually liking Sakuraba and his retro synths (Fender Rhodes Mark I <3 <3 <3) are the possible expectations due to the misleading title of it: "Battle Arrange" in this case doesn't refer to the style used on the album but rather to the original use of the compositions in the games. A whole album arranged like battle tracks would most certainly sound different from this.

Piano arrange mops the floor with this pathetic battle arrange, which even didn't include a new arrange for Fighting of the Spirit. And somehow the whole album lacked something, or then, I've grown out of Tales-Sakuraba. But I hope he start jugging out piano albums, those tend be damn good.

I guess Sakuraba only wanted to arrange his own compositions.

I think this is a very good album, especially since Sakuraba sometimes made very surprising arrangements where one would expect powerful progressive rock (Inferia Battle, for instance, is unexpected!). It reminds me of his older progressive works, which I like a lot more than his current orchestral style.

I was a bit disappointed with the Piano Arrange, though. I was expecting something as brilliant as Forest of glass, so... Well, I think this album is a bit feeble.

I quickly expressed my opinion here. Good album overall although I think the non-commercial Tales of Destiny PS2 Version Premium Soundtrack more.

Oh, it's not his composition? Weird, but then, maybe Tamura has done something good. :P

Plenty popular Tales tracks are his, the ones I have confirmations for are these: (ToP:) Arche, Be Absentminded, Bright Moonlight Night, Fighting of the Spirit, (ToD2:) A Resolution, Coup de Grace, Reala, The Dreadnought, (ToS:) Town of a Wind and Ruins, (TotA:) Wish and sadness. Additionally ToS' Fatalize is credited to him on the Japanese Wikipedia (and is his style alright), but I haven't seen any official confirmation of this. (Tamura is usually generally credited for doing the character and dungeon themes.)

These Tales of Series albums are most likely TEAM Entertaiment/Taku Kitahara granting Sakuraba's wish of being able/paid to make arrangements of his works (but BKO doesn't get this treatment, probably wouldn't be profitable for TEAM *shrugs*). Neither Bandai Namco nor Tales Studio seem to be involved at all outside licensing personels going by the staff credits, so the albums barely are mentioned on their website, and of course the selection is by Sakuraba and works by other composers are omitted.

Of the Piano Arrange I'm loving Desert and Burning Tower, the arrangements of super short title pieces like Tales of Destiny 2 and The Dawn of Departure are greatly and nicely extended, the others are between good and to be expected for a Sakuraba Tales piano pieces. The Answer (my favourite in-game piece from ToR) is wtf worthy. And Surprise Attack! is actually an arrangement of Sink into Vise.

I like the piano arrange album better myself. It's a bit surprising that such a badass pianist hadn't released a piano album before now.

He released Forest of Glass in January of this year. I find that to be a spectacular album. The piano arrange for Tales was lackluster in comparison, but still enjoyable.

Damn, I totally forgot all about that one. Still, that was recent as well. I wonder: did Sakuraba lack the confidence to release a piano album previously? Or did he just lack the interest? His primary approach to arrange albums had always been to go completely over the top. Now that the technology allows for his soundtracks to sound more or less just like his arrange albums, it makes sense to me for him to release albums in a more deconstructive style. I think that has something to do with why I'm enjoying the piano arrange so much more than the battle arrange.

A Tales battle arrange not having Fighting of the Spirit is like a Final Fantasy battle arrange not having the boss battle theme from FF4.  Oh, wait...

He lacked the piano.

He uses a Bösendorfer 225 but do we know for sure that he bought it recently?

His official site or the Trusty Bell guide book details the story like one or two years ago he moved and finally had the his own studio in the new house, which enabled him to get the piano.

That story is more or less also on his motion website (the guide surely has it described more detailed, doesn't it?).

He had an upright piano (by Sauter) before that as well, but it looks like he can't live without the 4 additional bass keys the Bösendorfer 225 has (which I read was originally designed to make Bach organ pieces transcribed to piano playable, something impossible with the usual 88 keys pianos due to the aforementioned missing 4 bass keys).

Thanks you two! A good bit of trivia there to explain his recent output of piano-related productions. I guess Sakuraba loves those bass notes.

Ha ha, that explains that I guess. Thank goodness he solved that little problem

I'm a little late to the party but I just posted my review (and some samples) if anyone's interested.

It was not a fun week for reviewing

Nice review. I don't agree with everything you said, though perhaps I'm too lax on Motoi Sakuraba. I do agree that the album isn't that spectacular and I find it somewhat strange that a pre-order bonus is a more refined and interesting production. I also agree that some parts sound amateurish -- especially that clanky piano piece -- although really I think they're more rushed. Nothing too abrasive to me but I can see why people would expect more from it.

I never did harp in on what i thought of this album, did I?
My mistake...I'll do it now! :)

Simply put, I got my hands on Battle Arrange knowing that I'd be getting a lot of fun renditions of the series's fight themes. And that's all I wanted. No great expectations at all, just a good, fun album. And thus, it didn't disappoint me in the least.

And in fact, the moments where he steps out of the prog rock and into softer or unusual territory are perhaps becoming my favorite moments. The slow electric piano and flute groove of "Inferia Battle"? Love it. "The Battle Opens Fire" may not break any new orchestral ground by a long shot, but I still appreciate it. Perhaps "Bare It's Fangs" IS a bit clanky, but it's funny little rhythm and happy energy have endeared it to me. "Alea Jacta Est" has persisted in convincing me that bizarre is a GOOD thing. And finally, I think the "Brilliant Future"-style version of "Like A Glint Of Light" is just a perfect, PERFECT way to end the album.

So yeah, it's not at the TOP of my Sakuraba arrange album list, but it makes me smile, and so I'm quite happy to have it.

On the other hand, having heard the new Valkyrie Profile arrange album...sorry Tales Battle, but this is gonna be one battle you SIMPLY CANNOT WIN. ;)